It appears that Apple may be prototyping an iPhone 5 with a tapered design, a larger 3.7-inch screen, and a gesture-sensitive home button, according to “This is my next”.

The above mockup is a visual aid they have created to illustrate several rumors that they have sourced. The rumors, in essence, are as follows (as interpreted by the good folks at Cult of Mac):

New design: Apple is testing several prototypes (we all know this) and one of the leading candidates for the iPhone 5 is thinner than the current iPhone 4 and looks “more like the iPod touch.” It has a teardrop shape – thinner at the bottom than the top, like the new MacBook Air.

Gesture-sensitive Home Button: The Home Button will be bigger and will understand a gestures. “Our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS,”

Larger screen: the screen will go up to 3.7-inches, not 4-inches as rumored. It will keep the current resolution, dropping pixel density goes from 326 to 312, but will still be a Retina Display (it’s still above 300ppi).

No Bezel: Screen will be edge-to-edge, occupying the entire front of the iPhone. That means no bezel (or almost no bezel).

Hidden earpiece & mouthpiece: The earpiece and sensors are behind the screen itself.

Inductive charging: It may or may not have wireless inductive charging. Crystal ball is cloudy.

NFC: Likewise it may or may not have NFC.

Global radio chips: It’ll be based on Qualcomm’s dual GSM/CDMA Gobi chipset, which means it’ll work on a ton of GSM and CDMA networks worldwide, most importantly in China.

As with all rumors, the caveat is that this is, in fact, a rumor – all things are subject to change, and this may or may not at all represent the final form of the iPhone 5 – although some of the claims, such as the global chip and larger screen, do seem quite likely.

What are your thoughts? I, for one, am always a bit hesitant to put much stake in such rumors. Sound off in the comments!

Glenn is Managing Editor at MacTrast, and has been using a Mac since he bought his first MacBook Pro in 2006. He lives in a small town in Utah, enjoys bacon more than you can possibly imagine, and is severely addicted to pie.